Differential transmission



D ec. 21 1926.

s. P. KHATUNZEFF DIFFEREBVIAI,l TRANSMISSION Filed June l04 1925 2 Sneetsnem Dec. 21 1926.

S. P. KHATUNZEFF DIWERENTIMJ TRANslvussIoN` F'i1ed June 10 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1N VEN TOR gferg/0.5* P /fa/myve/f BY e 'H' ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 21, 1926.

SERGIUS P. KHATUNZEFF, F BRIDGE'EORT, CONNECTICUT;

DIFFERENT-IAL TRANSMSSN.

Application filed June 10, 192,5. Serial No. 36,171.

This invention relates to differential transmissions, and an objectof the invention is to produce a differential transmitting mechanism which will combine the functions of a clutch and of variable transmitting devices without change of impact between a driving member and a member to be driven at any speed or in either direction, and to provide in the transmitting mechanism an arrangement of inner and outer 'spherical friction devices adapted to always engage each other along a line which is in a plane passing through the axis of both of said members, whereby a surface engagement between said inner and outer spherical friction devices is approached.

A further object is to produce a differential transmitting mechanism as stated,`

which will include a driving member, a driven member, a frame rotatable with one of said members and having at least one freely rotatable shaft with spaced apart spherical friction rollers fixed thereon,ahollow, fixed heini-sphere always engaged by one of said spherical friction rollers on a line on its inner surface which is in a plane passing through the axis of said members, a hollow hemi-sphere rotatable with the other of said members and always engaged by the other of said spherical friction rollvers on a line on its inner surface also in a plane passing through the axis of said members, and means for shifting, as a unit, said spherical friction rollers axially of both of said heini-spheres, whereby the driven member can be propelled by the driving member at any desired speed or in either direction, or the driving member can rotate while the driven member is stationary.

A still further object is to provide in the differential transmitting mechanism an arrangement for adjusting the spherical friction rollers toward and away from the adjacent surfaces of the heini-spheres in order to obtainJa desired and predetermined frictional engagement between rollers and heini-spheres, and to so m'ount the carrier (or carriers) for said rollers with respect to said hemi-spheres and to so associatepthe shaft (or shafts) having said rollers with said carrier (or carriers) that the pressure against the surface of each hemi-sphere of the spaced apart rollers upon a shaft will at all;times be equal. 4

, lVith the above objects in view, as well as others which will appear as the specification proceeds, the invention comprises the conf struction, arrangement and combination of parts as now to be fully described and as hereinafter to be specifically claimed, it being understood that the disclosure herein is merely illustrative and meant in no way in a limiting sense, changes in details of construction and arrangement of parts being permissible s long as within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification,

Fig. l isa horizontal sectional view of a transmission mechanism having the features of the invention, taken as on line 1-1 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view thereof, on a reduced scale, taken as on line 2-2 in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the fly wheel, on a still smaller scale, removed from the mechanism;

Fig. 4. is a perspective view of a friction roller carriei1 and a saddle therefor, showing the carrier removed from the saddle, to

vbetter disclose the arrangement for adjusting the friction rollers. toward and away from the adjacent surfaces of the hemispheres;

Figs. 5 and 6 are sectional views taken as on line 5--5 in Fig. 2, the former disclosing a driving and a driven shaft which will move in opposite directions, and the latter disclosing a driving and a Vdriven shaft which will move in the same direction; and

Fig. 7 is a sectional view of a variant form of friction roller and carrier and shaft therefor.

With respect to the drawings, let 10 be a driving shaft adapted to be rotated in any convenient manner, and 1l. be a shaft to .be driven at any speed or in either direction by power transmitted to the Shaft 10. The driven shaft 11 is mounted, as at 12, in a fixed member' 13 of a housing for the movable parts of the transmitting mechanism and rigidly carries a hemi-sphere 14 rotatable in said housing. yNumeral 15 denotes a liemi-sphere secured to the member 13, as

atl, and providing with the heini-sphere l 14 a sphere one lialf of which isv fixed and the other half of which is rotatable.

In practice, there will be a space 17 between the adjacent edges of the hemi-spheres .1 4 and `l5. The. driving shaftlO is mounted,

as at 18, in the heini-sphere l5, and is mounted, as at 15), in an extension of the heini-sphere 111-, in such manner that the shafts 10 and 11 are in alignment and are arranged centrally of the sphere consisting et' the heini-spheres 14 and 15, at right-an gies to t-he marginal edge of each hemisphere.

Numeral 2O represents a flyY Wheel fixed upon the shaft 10 at right-angles to sa'd shaft and also arranged centrali)Y of the spliere,"the ieriphery 2l ofthe fljg7 Wheel heinl adapted to lie close to the outer margins of the heini-spheres and desimbl)7 being spherical to better clear both of said heinispheres.

The fiy Wheel 2O is of the peculiar construction more clearlv disclosed in Fie'. 3 it including 4spaced apart,radial Ways Q2, parallel with the shaft 10, for the friction roller carriers and their saddles. and slots 23 at the bases of the ivajfs, and also parallel with the sh ft 10, for linls for manipulating` the saddles and roller carriers. 'lli cre a ivay 22 and a slot for each set of friction rollers to be employed in the mechanism, it being understood that there can be a greater or less number than four as disclosed.

The base of each ivay 22 and the surfaces of the fly Wheel adjacent each Way includes a cylindrical surface 2st concentric With the portions of the surfaces of the hemispheres 1li and 15 spaced lfrom the sphere axis. Each saddle, denoted has an inner surface 26 tonicely lit androtatc over a evvlin drical surface 2st, and an outer surface provided with agroove 27 to-receive a tongue 28 lupon -a friction `roller carrier Each carrier 29 includes a bearing' 30 for a shaft 31 upon the opposite ends of Which friction rollers $32, 83 are fixed, vthe roliers Vbeing, adapted to engage the inner surface of the lien'ii-sphere l-l, along;- lines each in a 4plane )assing through the axis of thc transmitting nieclninisin, and the rollers 33 beine; adapted to engage 'the inner surface of the heinisphere 15, also along;l lines each in a plane passing through the axis of said mechanism. Screws in Yeach carrierl) and engaging the base ofthe groove i?? are for the purpose of moving' the carriers outwardly yfrom-their saddles, to adjust the pressure Withwvhieh the friction rollers-engage the heini spheres. See Fig. 4i. 35 is a band about the fly Wheel and in the space 17 between the hemispheres.

Nume 'al 36 represents links vvhich at times enter the slots 23 already mentioned, the inner ends of the links being pivoted upon the saddle -as at 37 and the outer ends thereof Ybeing pivoted7 as at 38, upon a yoke 39 slidalole upon the shaft 10. l0 is a ring aboutthe yoke and having pins 41 engaging short slots 12 upon the inner end of a 1nanipulating lever 43 Vpassing through a slot 44 in the hemisphere 1.5 and pivoted :is at if) to the outer surface of said honii-.- lever, clearly. being' for the purper., of rotatingv the saddles 25 upon the c vlindric.il surfaces 2l of the fly Wheel.

rllie outer surfaces to of the friction rollers are, naturally, spherical to better lit the inner surfaces of the heini-spheres. ln Figs.. 1. to G said friction rollers are spherical cones. ln Fig. 7 a modification ot the friction rollers is disclosed. Here. the idea to provide friction rollers 32. 83 'which are more inthe nature of spherical-eglinders whose outer faces are indicated l-G; that is to say, friction rollers of diameter close to uniform for their vvhole lengths. To this end, the friction roller carrier 29 has two bearings 30 for the shaft 3l including4 a double universal joint 31'.

lt will be obvious that when ction rollers are intheir iositions of if. and f' di s r l (with each rollerl 32, 33, and 82 3.3 hav-- ing' rolling1 contact of the saine diameter).

rotation ofthe shaft '10 Will'causc rotation of each roller 3S or 33 over the hen'ii-spherc 15. at the saine soeed andin the same dirci:- tion as rotation of'the roller 82 or 32 over the heini-sphere 141, ivithout producing rota- `tion ofthe shaft 11. Ashifting ofthe 'friction roller carriers to the right, asin Fig', 5, Will set up in the shaft 1l a rotation in reverse direction tothe rotation of the shaft 10, for the reason thatithe roller 38 will ro' tate over a larger diameter than the roller ."f. i shitting of the friction roller carriers io the left, Vas in Fig. (i, will set up in the shaft 11 a rotation in the saine direction as the rotation of the shaft 10.r for the reason that the roller 33 `ivill lrotate over a smaller diameter `than the roller The amount of the shiftine of the rollers fromtheir normal position in Figs. 1 and 7, will, of course, ifletermine the rate of speed at `which the sha lts rotaterelatively to each other, the speed of the driven shaft increasing` `from zero to the speed ofthe driving;l shaft as the rollers are shifted from their neutral position to their extreme positions as indicated in Figs. .rand G. Clearly, the'shaft ll could be the dri"'vig shaft and the shaft 'l0 the driven shaft.

lt ivillfbe evident that centrifugal force will :iid the frictirnial engalgeineiiit between the friction rollers and the heini-spheres .ll and l5, and that ythe pressure against 'the surface of cach heniisi'ihere by the spaced apart rollers can at all tiiues'be equal. lt will also be evident that thepiesent mechanism has provision 'whereby inner and outer spherical frictiondevices `engage each other along lines Awhich are in a plane passing through the axis ofthe'inec'lianism toobtain an engagement. between said inner and outer spherical lfriction devices approaching a surface engagement.

)till lifaving thus fully described the invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A transmitting mechanism `comprising a .fixed spherical surface, a rotatable spherical surface, a rotatable shaft, a carrier upon said shaft and rotatable therewith, shaft means rotatable in said cariier, friction rollers fixed to said shaft means and including a friction roller engaging said fixed spherical surface and a friction roller engaging said rotatable spherical surface, and means for adj listing said carrier to shift said friction rollers, as a unit, axially of both of said spherical surfaces.

2. A t 'ansmitting mechanism comprising a driving member, a member to be driven, a frame rotatable with one of said members and having a rotatable shaft with friction rollers fixed thereon, a fixed surface engaged by one of said friction rollers, a surface rotatable with the other of said members and engaged by another of said friction rollers, the surfaces being concave and the rollers convex, and all of the surfaces and rollers having spherical engaging faces allowing a line engagement approaching a surface engagement between each surface and a roller, and means for shifting said friction rollers axially of said surfaces.

3. A transmitting mechanism comprising a fixed surface, a rotatable surface, a rotatable shaft, a friction roller carrier fixed to rotate with said shaft and itself movable in an arc and longitudinally of said shaft, shaft means rotatable in said carrier, fric- Ation rollers fixed to said shaft means and including a friction roller engaging said fixed surface and a friction roller engaging said rotatable surface, and means for imparting movement to said carrier longitudinally of said shaft.

4. A transmitting mechanism comprising a fixed spherical surface, a rotatable spherical surface, a rotatable shaft, a friction roller carrier fixed to rotate with said shaft and itself movable in an arc and longitit dinally of said shaft, shaft means rotatable in said carrier, and friction rollers fixed to said shaft means and including a friction roller engaging said fixed spherical surface and a friction roller engaging said rotatable spherical surface.

5. A transmitting mechanism comprising a fixed spherical surface, a rotatable spherical surface, a rotatable shaft having a radial way parallel therewith, the base of which way includes a cylindrical surface concentric with one of said spherical sui faces, a friction roller carrier rotatable upon said cylindrical surface and fixed to rotate with said shaft, shaft means rotatable in said carrier, and friction rollers fixed to said shaft means and including a friction roller engaging said rotatable spherical sur face and a friction roller engaging said fixed Vspherical surface.

rollers, as a unit, axially of said fixed surface and said rotatable surface.

7. In a transmittingmechanism, a fixed hemi-sphere, a rotatable heini-sphere, said heini-spheres together ineffectcoinprising a sphere, a shaft mounted in said sphere, a fly wheel fixed on the shaft and having a radial Way parallel with said shaft, the base of the way including a cylindrical surface concentric with said sphere, a friction roller carrier rotatable upon said cylindrical surface, shaft means rotatable in said carrier, and friction rollers fixed to said shaft means, one of said rollers engaging said fixed hernisphere and the other of said'rollers engaging said rotatable heini-sphere.

8. In a transmitting mechanism, a fixed heini-sphere, a rotatable herrn-sphere, said heini-spheres together in effect comprising a sphere, a shaft mounted in said sphere, a fly wheel fixed on the shaft and having a radial way parallel with said shaft, the base of the way including a cylindrical surface concentric with said sphere, a friction roller carrier rotatable upon said cylindrical surface, shaft means rotatable in said carrier, friction rollers fixed to .said shaft means, one of said rollers engaging said fixed hemisphere and the other of said rollers engaging said rotatable heini-sphere, and means foi1 rotating said carrier upon said cylindrical surface to shift said friction rollers, as a unit, axially of both of said heini-spheres.

Signed at Bridgeport. in the county of Fairfield, and State of Connecticut, this 8 day of June, A. D., 1925.

SERGIUS P. KHATUNZEFF. 

